This invention relates to a rotating electric machine which is used as a motor, or as a generator, or as a motor/generator.
Tokkai Sho 53-95207 published by the Japanese Patent Office in 1978 and Tokkai Hei 4-364343 published by the Japanese Patent Office in 1992 disclose a rotating electric machine which uses an inner section of a slot of a stator as a cooling passage in order to effectively cool the stator. The slot comprises a groove storing a stator coil. This type of rotating electric machine displays highly effective cooling performance since the stator coils or stator which generate heat come into direct contact with the cooling medium passing through the cooling passage.
However since the conventional rotating electric machine simply uses a space in the slot as a cooling passage without any modification, the cross sectional area of the cooling passage is too large. In such a case, excess cooling medium flows into a section separated from the stator coils or the stator which generate heat.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a rotating electrical machine which uses an inner section of a slot of a stator as a cooling passage in order to obtain a highly effective cooling performance with a small flow amount of cooling medium.
In order to achieve above object, this invention provides a rotating electric machine having a stator with a slot housing coils, and a closing member for closing the opening of the slot and forming a cooling passage in the slot, the rotating electric machine comprising a regulating member for narrowing the cross-sectional area of the cooling passage in the slot.
Furthermore, this invention provides a rotating electric machine, comprising a stator having a stator core and a slot, coils housed in the slot, a closing member for closing the opening of the slot and partitioning a cooling passage in the slot, wherein the coils are provided in a coiling region limited to a position near the bottom of the slot, and the overall region closer to the opening of the slot than the coils is filled by the closing member.